The plan is a Roth IRA, in which the participant chooses a contribution amount. The savings money can come from your paycheck, bank account, or a federal tax refund. The maximum contribution amount is $5,500 per year, or $6,500 if you are over the age of 50.

Additionally, once the account reaches a $15,000 maximum, that money must then be transferred to another account.

“It gets people to save, and people really don’t do enough of that,” Ventura Advisors President Jeffrey Harwood said. “Typically people who have stocks and bonds in an investment portfolio would put their growth investments, their stocks, in an account like this, but the government doesn’t offer that. What they’re offering is a fixed-income, a bond option.”

Small business owners, meanwhile, say it is a step in the right direction.

“Personally as a business owner, I can’t afford that for my employees,” Asanad said. “The fact that the government is going to do that, I think it’s great.”